• Neurology Traumatic Brain Injury

According to the National Institutes of Health, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is not only the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults, but is also a significant concern for older people due to increased frequency of slips and falls as we age.*  Proper diagnosis and treatment are essential to maximizing our recovery following a serious injury to the brain.

Our department's faculty members provide outstanding care for patients who have suffered serious brain injury as a result of accidents or sports activities. They also conduct basic and clinical research aimed at improving our understanding of what happens during traumatic brain injuries and how we can better evaluate and treat them.

The advances our researchers have made include a new drug treatment for reducing the often deadly swelling of the brain that is caused by TBI. Researchers are also testing ways of cooling the body temperature of a person who has suffered a brain injury as a way of preventing lethal swelling.

For more information about TBI, please visit the NINDS TBI information page.

*National Institutes of Health, NINDS, Traumatic Brain Injury: Hope through Research

Wall of Hope Gives Families Optimism and Inspiration

When Edith Stewart’s husband Steven suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2017 and was admitted to the Neurological Surgery Intensive Care Unit (NSICU) at UC Davis Medical Center, Edith wasn’t sure that he’d recover.

During those difficult days, she received strength and comfort not only from the NSICU doctors and nurses but from the Wall of Hope – a gallery of “before and after” photos of patients treated in the NSICU who recovered from similar brain injuries.  Read the full Wall of Hope story.  


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